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The overall rate of union membership has been steadily declining for decades. The share of workers belonging to unions peaked in the 1950s at about 30 percent, and dropped to about 20 percent by 1983. The modest increase in union ranks last year follows a steep decline in 2012 that saw the union membership rate sink to its lowest level since the 1930s.

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Tennessee unions quietly added 31,000 members in 2013, representing the largest percentage increase in union membership in the country.

By contrast, the nation’s union membership held steady at 11.3 percent last year, even though losses among state and government workers suggest an ominous trend for the future of organized labor. Total membership increased to 155,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, increasing union membership to 6.1 percent of all workers in Tennessee.

Ethan Link, program director with the Laborers’ International Union of North America’s Southeast Laborers’ District Council, said the 25 percent growth in union membership in Tennessee could be attributed to a variety of factors — increases in construction and manufacturing jobs because of the improving economy, ramped up organizing efforts and a growing sense of disparity among workers between their company’s bottom line and their own paychecks.

“It’s not just service unions or industrial or building trades, it’s really all of us,” Link said. “I don’t think you can underestimate from the workers’ standpoint how attitudes have been changing. People don’t always join unions when times are hard or wages are down. They join unions when they see inequality or disrespect.”

When General Motors announced last year that was investing $350 million at the plant in Spring Hill, about 1,800 jobs were added, which caused membership in the United Auto Workers Local 1853 to double, said bargaining chairman Mike Herron.

“People are recognizing the fact (that) if they want a high-quality, well-paid job with benefits attached then joining the union is a right thing to do,” Herron said.

Link said the growth in 2013 shouldn’t be misinterpreted as a sign that organized labor has an easy time in Tennessee, where the Republican-dominated legislature has passed laws to water down unions’ ability to recruit and negotiate. To push back, unions increased organizing efforts throughout the state, Link said.

“When I saw the numbers, I believed them — but I am surprised,” he said. “There is a very organized, well-funded campaign against unions in activity and membership. And it has never been harder to be a union and be active than right now, because of what state legislature and groups are doing.”

At a national level, there are now slightly more union members working for private firms than in government, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That reverses a five-year trend.

“It could be that we’ve hit bottom and things are going to turn around,” said John Schmitt, a senior economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. “The other possibility is that it’s just a blip and we’ll get back to a slow steady decline in private sector unionization.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 or on Twitter @tnnaterau.